Thursday, December 6, 2007

Another Reason Huckabee Shouldn't Get the Nod

Dumond also argued that even if he were guilty his sentence was excessive, and his position won him some sympathy, not least on the grounds that he had suffered terribly at the hands of those unknown assailants. In April 1992, when Dumond had served just seven years, Lt. Gov. Tucker, acting as governor while Clinton was out of state campaigning for president, commuted Dumond’s sentence to a level where he would be eligible for parole. That didn’t mean Dumond would go free, only that the state parole board would consider the question. The board declined to free Dumond.That’s where things stood when Huckabee took office on July 15, 1996. Last August, Huckabee told me he had his doubts about Dumond’s guilt, and also felt sorry for him over the castration attack. On September 20, just weeks after taking office, Huckabee announced that he intended to set Dumond free, saying that there were “serious questions as to the legitimacy of his guilt.” On October 31, Huckabee met with the parole board. Not long after, the board voted to free Dumond, but on the condition he move to another state. Huckabee was pleased, in part because — given that the board had voted to free Dumond — there was no need for Huckabee to commute the sentence or pardon him. So Huckabee denied Dumond’s now-irrelevant pardon application while at the same time congratulating him on his soon-to-come freedom. “Dear Wayne,” Huckabee wrote in a letter to Dumond. “My desire is that you be released from prison. I feel that parole is the best way for your reintroduction to society to take place.”

There's an old song called "Sympathy for the Devil" which is perfect for this insanity." One of the main reasons this monster was freed was that he garnered sympathy from an attack on him. While I'm sure the attack was terrible, there seems little doubt that it was motivated by the fact that this man raped and brutalized a 17 year old. Or put another way, if this guy hadn't committed a heinous crime, he wouldn't have had his testicles unceramoniously removed, and wouldn't have spent time in prison. His suffering was of his own making. It's impossible to feel sympathy for the guy. And it's hard to feel anything except for contempt for Huckabee.

This is beyond a lapse in judgement. Because of misplaced sympathy, and political partisanship (the victim was related to Bill Clinton...so of course Dumond was being railroaded), Huckabee released a violent rapist, who he'd been informed was a repeat offender, and sent him to an unsuspecting community. At least one woman, and perhaps two, are dead directly because of Huckabee's stupidity. For me...that's more than enough to disqualify him from the office.